Sex differences in expectations and perception of a social robot

In this paper we investigate how the human sex could influence the perception of a social robot, supposed neutral and without applying possible manipulations. In addition we explore the kind of human-like actions people expect from a robot. We analyse twelve typical stereotypically male, female and neutral tasks in order to evaluate the possible interaction between the participant’ sex and the robot’s sex assignment. More precisely we study which of them, people consider a social robot able to do, could be useful for humans and/or they would like the robot to perform. In this regard, we found that the robot was perceived as more suitable in terms of usefulness for communication functions which include speaking, listening, talking, consistently with the human adjectives used by the participants to describe it (amiable, exhilarated, sociable, kind, sweet and brazen). The study involves young people, aged 19 years and older, who are not familiar with robotics.